It's a good idea to assume anything experienced in qigong has meaning, and thus some from of reality. I'll leave ontologists to the exact definition of reality for the time being.
For example, I visualized the Masters' energy going into me through the palms of my hands. When I let one of my Masters know, she told me that the place was connected directly to the heart via qi channels. My blood pressure lowered from high to normal. The most reasonable explanation would be that somehow my inner mind was able to let my conscious awareness know about the changes that were happening within my circulatory system through this visual.
The most important aspect of any communication is the information, not the reality of the communicators.
